


The Second Advent of a Saint

by UntramenTaro



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Drabble, F/M, based off Pygmalion and Galatea, some spoilers for Flayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 01:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21330223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntramenTaro/pseuds/UntramenTaro
Summary: A wandering artist paints a masterpiece that is so lifelike that it looked as if she would leap out of the painting at any moment.
Relationships: Flayn & Ignatz Victor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	The Second Advent of a Saint

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble which was my original drafted pitch for [Fodlan's Fables](https://twitter.com/fodlansfables).

Once upon a time there was a wandering artist in the land of Fodlan. Though the young artist, Ignatz, hailed from a wealthy merchant family, he lived humbly selling his paintings and skills. 

While passing through a small town, he was asked to paint a mural of the saints for the local church. Though they could not pay him much, he agreed to their terms.

He had painted the saints before. Their divine visages were no stranger to his brush, and before long he had completed the portraits of Saint Seiros, Cichol, Indech, and Macuil. The last saint to complete was Saint Cethleann, but for some odd reason he struggled to capture her likeness to his satisfaction. 

As he continued working on the portrait, the kindness and dignity she embodied continued to elude him. His efforts soon borne an obsessive particularness in getting each stroke just right; each swish of his brush brought him closer to the perfection he envisioned.

When he completed the portrait of Cethleann, people were in awe of how lifelike it was; her beauty was ethereal and it looked like she could spring to life any minute. It became known as “The Second Advent of a Saint” and many considered it his best work. People from all over Fodlan traveled to see the portrait which gained notoriety as possessing divine powers.

From that day forward his artistic skills were in high demand. He traveled across the land for commissions, painting portraits of nobles and their families. However, no matter where he traveled his thoughts would wander to the portrait of the fair Cethleann he had painted on the walls of that church: the lush green curls that framed her face, the soft kind smile. It would do no good to deny that he was invariably lovesick for his own depiction of Saint Cethleann, and he made his pilgrimage to the church where she resided.

When he arrived at the church and beheld her portrait, he felt as if his heart was finally again at ease. He spent several days at the town to visit the portrait at the church, but he knew that eventually he would have to move on elsewhere. During the final day at this town, he began to pray to the Goddess in the church that he may find someone as beautiful and kind as how he envisioned Saint Cethleann.

The Goddess, Sothis, taking pity on the love-stricken artist, decided to grant his wish. When Ignatz bid goodbye to the portrait, he gently ran his fingers over the mural and was surprised to find her cheeks warm and rosy. Her hands, once folded upon her lap, moved to clasp his over her cheek with a soft smile. In his surprise he lost his balance, with Saint Cethleann tumbling out after him into his arms.

Witnesses say “The Second Advent of a Saint” truly lived up to its name that day, though skeptics refuse to believe in the story of a living painting. You may still visit the mural and portrait of Saint Cethleann in that town if you wished, but rumors say that the Saint now walks alongside the wandering artist wherever he goes.


End file.
